Time Machine co-ordinates VILXXXVI53332261

Today we hit March 22nd, 1961- and miss by one day the beginning of the Beatles opening run at the Cavern Club in Liverpool; but tonight we can see the 2nd of "nearly 300" regular appearances there!  Mind you, this is pre-Ringo, so Pete Best will be on the drums...

"Cor, ya say it like it's a bad thing..."

Well, so I was told... Anyway, we have a SPECIAL Time Machine this week- in honor of Percy Faith's win last week, we'll be doing a couple of specials on instrumental hits!  Plus two new M10 debuts, including the riotous return of Sarah Tudzin, the illuminati hottie!  It'll be the Best... er, a great show!


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Okay, so I found a site where a guy ran through the Billboard chart up to his current time- through 2002- and found that there were 222 top 20 instrumentals from the beginning of BBs chart to that point, and there are a TON of them that I just love!  So what we are going to do is give you the top instrumentals of ME 2.0- by weeks on top combined of Billboard and Cashbox- and then, my PERSONAL top 10- and I'm still growling over how many I had to leave off!  But we'll start that in a little bit!  First off, debuting at #10 are/is illuminati hotties with their/her latest:








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So I have a 22-song, 42-station list for this week's Panel, on top of all the rest, so here we go with the one-vote wonders...


Much like last week, the chart positions are all over the board, and there are quite a few that JUST hit the Cashbox national chart!  One of those is classical giants Ferrante and Teicher with the Theme To One Eyed Jacks, a western featuring and directed by Marlon Brando, coming in at #79.

The Shirelles version of Dedicated To The One I Love was in the top ten at #7.

Chubby Checker was at #2 with Pony Time... looks like another rough week for the top ten...

Kathy Young's Happy Birthday Blues was at #36.

Our hero Clarence "Frogman" Henry was at #42 with (I Don't Know Why) But I Do.

With a vote from a Canadian station comes Elvis with Wooden Heart- a song that wouldn't be released here except as the b-side to Blue Christmas, but was still at #107.  It was #4 in the UK this week.

Carla Thomas's Gee Whiz was at #13.

Ernie K Doe debuted this week at #72 with his big hit Mother-In-Law.

Dinah Shore got a vote for a song that never showed up on CB, and peaked at #103 on BB- a song where she did nothing until the end but "doo-doo-dooo" called Ain't Down Yet.

Only at #130 here, Andy Stewart with a big UK hit (26 this week) called A Scottish Soldier.  If you never heard it, worth a listen.

The String-A-Longs were at #6 here- and 8 in the UK- with Wheels- which BTW was on that instrumental list...

All I know about this one is I heard the song when I looked it up- Del Erickson with Two.

Another debut this week, Del Shannon's Runaway came in at #66.

Marty Robbins was at #3 with Don't Worry (and he didn't add, "be happy").

Brook Benton was at #16 with Think Twice.

Another debut at #86 was Steve Lawrence with Portrait Of My Love.

And the Shirelles again, with their #28 (and #5 in the UK), Will You Love Me Tomorrow.



And everything that's left is in the final.  Of course, that's a relative term, as our winner collected 30.95% of the vote to run away with it!  Choose this week from:

Louisiana Man by Rusty and Doug (Kershaw)... (Note: this song got two regional votes and a BB peak of #104...)

Elvis again with Surrender, the #1 CB song this week...

The Marcels with Blue Moon- which took this week's SECOND biggest jump, 34 spots from 49 to #15...

Jorgen Ingman with another instrumental hit, Apache, at #8...

And for only the 2nd time I remember, the #1 UK song, the Everly Brothers with Walk Right Back, here at #20!

"Oh boy, we getta do this again?"
"We gotta win first, rockhead!"

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Gosh, I'm worn out typing!  Here, listen to our second debut- at #9 with a bullet, here is Scotland's Idlewild... (Warning, this might be one of those "triggers seizures" videos...)





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All right, so by this guy's figuring, there were 26 #1 instrumentals in the Martin Era 2.0 (for any newbies, from the debut of Rock Around The Clock in May 1955 to the debut of How Deep Is Your Love in September 1977, because disco)... Cashbox missed just one of these, but as usual added 5 others.  Plus, there was one of an iffy nature, due to Cashbox's early habit of combining all versions of a hit on one entry.  That one would be Les Baxter's Unchained Melody, which got 7 weeks on CB combined with 2 other versions and within the ME2.0, but just 2 pre-ME 2.0 weeks on BB, so we left it out.

By combined weeks, here are the top ten instrumentals of ME2.0):

9 (tie)- Moonglow and Theme From Picnic- Morris Stolloff's orchestra, 1956, 3 BB and 2 CB.

9 (tie)- Patricia- Perez Prado and Orchestra, 1958, 1 on BB and 4 from CB.

6 (tie)- Lisbon Antigua, Nelson Riddle and orchestra, 1955, 4 BB and 2 CB.

6 (tie)- Calcutta, Lawrence Welk, 1960, 2 BB and 4 CB.

6 (tie)- Telstar, The Tornados, 1962, 3 weeks each.

5- Autumn Leaves, Roger Williams, 1955, 4 on BB, 3 CB.

3 (tie)- Tequila, the Champs, 1958, 5 each.

3 (tie)- Poor People Of Paris, Les Baxter and orchestra, 1956, 6 BB and 4 CB.

2- Love Is Blue, Paul Mariat, 1967, 5 BB and 7 CB.

And guess who wins this one?

Of course it's our POTM, Percy Faith, with A Summer Place ringing up 9 on BB and 8 on CB!


Now, if'n you want MY opinion- or even if you don't- how about MY personal 10 favorite instrumentals?


10- Mike Post, Theme From The Rockford Files, 1975, #10 for 2 weeks

9- The Ventures, Hawaii 5-0, peaked at #4 in 1969

8- Sleepwalk, Santo and Johnny (AKA the one song BB had hit #1 and CB did not), a 2-week #1 in 1959.

7- Love's Theme, Love Unlimited Orchestra (AKA the theme to every golf match played in the 70s), a week at #1 on each chart in 1973

6- TSOP (The Sound Of Philadelphia), MFSB (with the Three Degrees at the end), 2 weeks each in 1974

5- Wonderland By Night, Bert Kaempfert, 3 BB and 1 CB in 1960

4- Nadia's Theme (AKA Theme To The Young And The Restless), Barry DeVorzon and Perry Botkin Jr, #8 in 1976

3- More, Kai Winding and orchestra, #8 in 1963

And a very familiar top 2-

2- Love Is Blue, Paul Mariat

1- Theme From A Summer Place, Percy Faith

Because why mess with success?

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Stat Pack time!


The would-be 6D victim- Connie Francis and Where The Boys Are, at #4 without a Panel vote.

I knew 16 on CB and 10 in the UK, including that #1 by the Everlys...

"Did we win?  did we win?"
"NOT YET, stooge!"

The Biggest big mover was the Echoes with Baby Blue, up 46 from 96 to 50.  It would continue to take good sized leaps until hitting the top 20, to slow down and stop at #15.


The first Latina to make the Rock and Roll HOF, as well as the first on American Bandstand, was Rosie Mendez Hamlin of Rosie and the Originals, who had our #61 in '61 with Lonely Blue Nights.

And might well make a dent in the Beauty Contest...

And it was the Velvets, a doo-wop group discovered by Roy Orbison, sitting at #101 with That Lucky Old Sun.


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And the remaining M10:

Charles Bradley moves up 2 to 8 with The World Is Going Up In Flames, as do the Black Keys with Lo/Hi at #7.

Weezer bangs their heads at #6, just a one-notch climb for High As A Kite.

Next comes the droppers- Leonard Cohen falling 3 to #5 with You Want It Darker, and last week's #1 from The Dig, You're Not Alone to #4 after 3 weeks at the top.

Pure Bathing Culture easily has its biggest M10 hit with Devotion at #3, up 2... and the rest also climb 2 as well.

Which means that The Japanese House is at #2 with You Seemed So Happy, and the new number one- her third...

Anna Burch with St Adalbert!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


And our winner on the Panel?  Well, if you took Rusty and Doug, Jorgen Ingman, or the Everlys, you got a whopping 4.76%...

"Did we win?"
"For Pete's sake, NO!!!"
"Oh."

If you took the King...

"C'mon, 30.95%..."

Nope, you only got 14.3%.  So that means this week's winners are...

...the Marcels and Blue Moon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Next week, we play "where were you in '62?"  (Answer: still about a month and a half away from my debut...)